An odd coincidence of the calendar means today’s post aligns with the end of the 2022–23 academic and fiscal years. As we are also now at the halfway point of the 2023 calendar year, it seemed like a good use of today’s post to give you a sort of mini-State of the Department address. Since we last turned the calendar in July 2022 much has occurred that should make us all very excited to be a part of this department and University of Iowa Health Care. From the recognition of career-long achievements, such as Dr. Michael Welsh receiving the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, to the investment in future achievements, such as Dr. Frank Faraci leading a new Network of Excellence sponsored by the Leducq Foundation. In education, we continue to excel and innovate in a variety of curricula development, including the launching of a Health Equity distinction track and a further expansion of our longitudinal ultrasound training pathway. On the clinical side, we continue to provide meaningful and transformative care to thousands of Iowans every week and noted the five-year mark since we brought the UI Health Care brand for cancer care to the Quad Cities. We have also been fortunate to get to know our Advanced Practice Providers each week in the last year and are deeply grateful for their contribution to our missions.

The successes you have achieved in the last year are all the more impressive given the headwinds we have been sailing against. In each of our missions there are outstanding bright spots that show how hard we have worked to rebuild and to grow past where we were before the pandemic. In clinical care, our volumes have long since rebounded. We are caring for more patients than ever before, which is both challenge and success, depending on one’s lens. All the divisions contributed to the successes in our clinical operations, which deserves to be lauded. You all have made noteworthy recalibrations to grow in the face of unprecedented challenges. We have particularly strong growth in our Division of Infectious Diseases and our Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Our research enterprise continues to make strides. At last count, our faculty are leading 465 industry-sponsored clinical trials, an increase of 6% since 2022. It is wonderful to imagine what this could mean both for the next generation of therapeutics as well as the potential lives it could change for those currently enrolled. And when one considers the amount of work that it takes to launch a trial, from approvals through enrollment, administration, monitoring, and reporting all the way to assessment and publication, it is a truly staggering amount of activity all happening right here at Iowa. Well done. This is not to say that the traditional model of federally funded investigator-led research has fallen by the wayside, with a portfolio of nearly $31M in new grants and some well-scored proposals coming in FY24. We have seen recent NIH grant wins from Dr. Mahmoud Abou Alaiwa in Pulmonary and Dr. Aleksander Lenert in Immunology and several American Heart Association grants, including for an innovative project by Cardiology’s Dr. Jennifer Streeter. Our investment of mentoring in fellows and junior faculty is also clear as a number of career development awards continue to be approved. The future of research at Iowa is secured. I look forward to the fresh burst of energy that Dr. Chad Grueter will bring to his new role as Vice Chair for Research and I thank you all in advance for your willingness to participate in his information-gathering via survey and conversation in the coming weeks.

Achievements in education have been covered extensively this month for understandable reasons between the graduation celebrations of some of our divisions and the onboarding of a new class of interns. Welcome, new residents! We are glad you are here and hope that your orientation this week, organized in part by our fabulous new Chief Residents, has made you feel welcome. We also hope that this week’s nationally renowned clinical evaluations have reassured that you are ready for this exciting new chapter in your career. As for other department achievements in education, we need only look to the recent slate of teaching awards as evidence of excellence and the standard we should all strive toward. Thank you to everyone who proves just how valuable our education mission is to this department.

Our department ends this academic year on a strong note, one that reminds us who we are and that we can achieve much more when we are united behind a common goal. We are grateful to the administrative team members who support us in this mission and congratulate Human Resources Director Kaila Boothroy on a once-again fully staffed HR team. This is no small achievement and should not be underestimated when it comes to solving some of the challenges that lay ahead, particularly in the realm of recruitment and retention. We are also just a month away from the effective start date of our new Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dean Denise Jamieson, whose arrival should provide additional momentum for new initiatives at the collegiate level. What are you most looking forward to in this coming year?